Monday, December 3, 2007

Water and Sewer Rates - Owners Pay & Landlords Walk

There is yet another reason to give a harder look at illegal rooming houses in our neighborhoods – water and sewer bills. Unless you have metered water use, which is not the case with almost all single family homes, you pay a flat rate for water and sewer use. That rental house with 5-6 adults pays the same flat rate even though that single family home has been turned into an illegal rooming house, which is essentially a revenue producing business for the landlord. So, if you have an average sized family, your rates are the same as for that de facto apartment building. As the city council contemplates licensing landlords, it may well consider requiring water meters on all single family rentals within the city limits.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Excellent point. Not only are the landlords profiting from being un-licenced buisness owners allowed by the city to illegally operate mini-apartment buildings (rooming houses)in single family homes,they
get away with not paying any extra for sewer and water.Must be some big money backing these folks that they are getting away with this kind of abuse of the law and the city resources. Why else?